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# How to Find the Scale Factor of a Triangle?

TopScale factor is the ratio of any two identical length in two given similar geometry. In scaling, a number is used as a multiplier. It is also used to reduce the size of any figure. Here, we will see how to find the scale factor of a triangle. Before finding the scale factor of a triangle, first of all it is necessary to know about triangles.

We know that a triangle is a closed shape which has three straight sides. To find the scale factor of a triangle, we need to divide the shortest side by the longest side.

Suppose we have two triangles and if both the triangles are equivalent, then the reduced ratio of any two corresponding sides is said to be the scale factor of the similar triangles. This is how we can find the scale factor of a triangle.

Properties of Scale Factors:
1. In scaling, a number is used as a multiplier.
2. It is used to measure the shapes in one, two and three dimensions. It can be obtained in the following scenarios which are as follows:
• Size Transformation: Here, it is used as a ratio for representing the amount of magnification.
• Scale Drawing: Here, scale factor is used to compare the figure to the original shape.

To compare two similar geometry figures, scale factor is used to find the length of identical sides.

Let us see how to find the scale factor of a triangle with the help of an example.

For example, consider a triangle having the sides 6, 8 and 10 and we have to create a new triangle by multiplying each side by 2.
After multiplying each side by 2, we get the sides of a larger triangle i.e. 12, 16 and 20. If we want smaller triangle, then we multiply each side by scale factor of $\frac{1}{2}$ for getting the smaller triangle with sides 3, 4, and 5.